


Far away

by Kirianna_May



Series: when the heat strikes [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alpha!Lance, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Angst, Fluff, I basically wanted lance taking care of keith sue me, M/M, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Omega!Keith, Whump, dry heat, if you squint maybe, in a way I guess?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-04
Updated: 2018-01-04
Packaged: 2019-02-28 08:58:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13268070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kirianna_May/pseuds/Kirianna_May
Summary: Keith and Lance's relationship is still pretty new, and since suppressants aren't a thing in outer space, Keith knows they'll have to deal with his oncoming heat sooner or later. What he wasn't expecting was Lance going on a mission and his heat being a dry one.





	Far away

 

“End training simulation!”

 

Keith’s voice rings clear through the deck, and the droids still immediately, their weapons dropping to the ground in a clatter.

 

Lance turns his back to them, resting his bayard on his shoulder and sending his trademark grin at Keith

 

“What, are you tired already?”

He asks as if his own breathing wasn’t getting ragged too.

 

Keith smirks back at him

“Of course you’re still fresh, you’re not the one running around with a sword”

 

Lance’s grin only grows wider and he doesn’t even try to pretend he’s not staring as the other lifts up his dark shirt to dry the sweat from his face, exposing his toned middle in the process.

 

“You’re so gross Lance” Keith deadpans as he catches him staring

 

“Aw, are you shy?” Lance asks as he walks up to him, straight into his personal space.

 

Keith just rolls his eyes

“No, we’re both sticky and gross, don’t touch me”

 

Lance’s shoulders slump slightly

“What, not even a kiss?”

 

Keith can’t really resist those blue eyes, nor the heady scent Lance has, so he just huffs, turning his head slightly to make sure the other wouldn’t notice the slight blush he could feel creep up his cheeks.

 

“Just one” he concedes, and Lance beams at him, hugging him despite his half hearted groan of protest, as their sweaty bodies collide, and kisses his lips, a quick, sweet kiss, followed by another and then another, each one lingering a bit longer until Keith pulls away.

 

“I said just one” he glares, even though there’s no real anger in him, and it shows in the way his eyes remain soft and his scent sweet.

 

Lance smiles as he realizes he can read his expressions and scent better with each passing day “I got carried away, you taste good”

 

Keith can’t help the rush of pink in his cheeks this time, not with how close Lance is, and the way he keeps their bodies flushed together, so he coughs awkwardly, pulling away from him.

 

“I’m going to shower” he announces and walks out of the training deck briskly.

 

 

This thing they had, this… relationship –Keith makes himself think that word and it still sounds a bit foreign in his mind- was new, very new if one didn’t count the months of awkward flirting that preceded it, and Keith still isn’t entirely sure of what is going on…

 

This is all new and unexpected to him, being with an alpha is something he thought would never happen to him, because he’s Keith, he’s a weird omega, one that won’t submit, that will challenge everyone and win, and alphas aren’t supposed to be okay with someone like him.

 

He knows, from experience, that his scent, his body, make him an object of desire, something to be won, and that the ones who think have won him, will want to tame and make him kneel.

 

Keith has no intention to kneel, he’s not frail and can look after himself, he had always thought that no alpha could ever appeal to him, and yet here he was, starting this thing with Lance, playing with him on the training deck almost every day, like they were kids, letting him almost win sometimes when they wrestled; letting him slink into his bedroom after that, pretending to fight as he let him hold his arms around his body and press kisses over his skin.

 

In moments like this, while he’s standing still under the lukewarm spray of water from the showers, he wonders whether he’s going mad, doing something absurd, something wrong maybe, something he’ll regret later… letting an alpha touch him like that, leaving his scent on his skin…

 

But then Lance’s warmth comes to mind, the way he smiles, the way he treats him as an equal, the way his breathing comes slow and controlled when he aims…

 

And Keith remembers that he trusts Lance, that he trusts him in battle with his life on the line day after day, that they have each other’s back, and he manages to breathe calmly again, sure that Lance won’t turn on him, won’t try to tame him and force him to be something he isn’t.

 

 

As he puts on fresh clothes, Keith’s aware of the small changes going on in his body, he thinks it has started a couple of days ago, with sudden bursts of warmth blooming in his lower stomach, almost unnoticeable at first, but growing in intensity as days went by. He can feel now how his hips ache slightly, even though there are no bruises there, and he can’t deny how easily even thinking of Lance makes him wet.

 

The signs are all there, and it shouldn’t come as a surprise, since his suppressants run out quite a long time before.

 

He still hoped he might have more time before his heat, but Lance scenting him, kissing him and sleeping in his bed at night, must have sped things up.

 

He knows he should tell him soon, this is going to be their first heat as a couple, a moment Keith knows is supposed to help them bond, but he feels strangely self conscious whenever he tries to talk about it, so he decides to put the talk off for a bit more, for as long as can delay it before things become obvious from his scent.

 

He knows he’s going to be vulnerable during his heat, and he doesn’t like it, he almost considers asking Lance to stay away, to let him go through it on his own, going near him only to scent him and keep things bearable…

 

But he can’t deny to himself that he wants the company, his first heat after years of suppressants isn’t probably going to be nice, having someone with him should help… having Lance with him should help.

 

 

Heats are an annoying thing to deal with in most cases, but when one’s in outer space fighting a war, they turn out to be an even bigger nuisance.

 

 

That afternoon they receive a distress call, from a nearby planet, small and full of forest, called Dela’har. Keith wants to offer himself for the mission, he grows restless when he spends too long in the castle. It’s an easy mission, two of them should be enough, and he’s about to step forward when his hips ache again, more viciously this time, and he reasons that it would be stupid even for him to go when his heat is obviously about to start.

 

So he remains quiet, letting Shiro choose Hunk and Lance.

 

 

“Oh this is gonna be good, we’re a great team!” Lance beams at his best friend, an excited bounce in his step as they get ready to leave.

 

Keith isn’t just as happy, the warmth low in his abdomen is getting insistent and he’s pretty sure his heat will be full blown by tomorrow, the thought is enough to sour his mood, especially since he hasn’t told Lance anything yet…

 

The alpha turns to look at him, a question evident on his face and Keith’s mortified as he realizes he didn’t even try to stop his scent from showing how grumpy he’s feeling.

 

“Hey, you won’t even have time to miss me, I’ll be back before you know it!” Lance boasts happily, his usual grin firm in place and Keith huffs irritably.

 

“As if, your ass is so slow it’ll take you forever”

 

Lance stares at him for a moment, trying to place the unfamiliar way his omega’s scent mixes with sweet and sour, and then he just shrugs, bending slightly to kiss him.

 

“I bet you’ll be happy when my slow ass is back”

He grins teasingly and Keith relaxes a little, feeling comfortable with their usual back and forth

 

“You get back and we’ll see whether or not I’m happy about it”

 

Lance smiles at him, reassured by the way his smell goes almost back to normal, and how his expression looks less tense, and he thinks that he’ll ask later what was going on with him.

He’ll ask as soon as he’s back, it shouldn’t take more than a few hours.

 

 

Once the two lions have flown away Keith isn’t sure what to do with himself, his body aches and he feels jittery, so he does what he does best: he trains. He trains for as long as he can, until the castle’s lights dim as they enter the night cycle.

 

Lance isn’t back yet, and despite being worn out and tired he still feels restless, so he heads to the common room, looking for answers.

 

Pidge’s there, looking over the data Hunk sent her from the planet.

 

“Why are they taking so long?”

 

She turns to look at him, a curious spark in her eyes as she registers that something’s off with him, but her sense of smell isn’t the best since she’s a beta, and his heat hasn’t fully started yet, so she regards him for a little longer, taking in how his body fidgets impatiently

 

“They’ve found a Galra settlement, so they’re trying to rescue the prisoners”

 

Keith nods stiffly, because of course Lance had to lose time like this

 

“How long?”

 

She shrugs “I don’t know, I’m helping them plan a route right now”

 

 

Keith paces down the halls for a little longer after that, until he feels too tired even for that, and his restlessness turns into a need to find a safe place. He walks back to his room, his tense shoulders finally relaxing as he smells the familiar mix of his own and Lance’s scent.

 

He momentarily thinks that he’s supposed to be building a nest, but he’s shit at it, and he’s way too exhausted to do anything but bury himself under the covers.

 

 

He wakes up a few hours later, feeling horrible after a restless sleep. His heat is so close he can smell it on himself, he feels too warm for comfort, and the ache in his hips is dull and constant.

 

He should go fetch water and food from the kitchen, but he goes as far as stepping out of his room before the mixed scents of all the others on the ship hit him like a wall and make him shiver. He can’t walk outside, even as his rational side tells him that there’s no danger, every instinct screams that he’s safe only in his room, that the only one he shouldn’t be scared of is his alpha.

 

Keith curses under his breath as he closes the door behind him and retreats to the bed once more, trying to get some sleep before this stupid heat hits him full force.

 

When he opens his eyes again his breathing is ragged, coming in hot puffs and he feels hazy. He groans and curls in on himself, how long is Lance going to take to come back?

 

The day wears on, and he gets more and more feverish, even the dim bluish light of his room hurts his eyes, he’s a sweating mess and all he can do is gather the strength to drag himself to his bathroom and gulp down water from the sink.

 

Shiro comes to check on him, but he’s an alpha and the only reason why Keith manages not to panic at his smell is that they’ve known each other for long and he trusts him. It’s still not enough to let him in, so Shiro ends up leaving food and water out of his door, trying to comfort him with words, but by evening Keith’s too far gone to register anything else than his scent, and it takes him hours to convince himself to go take the food just outside his door.

 

The night is even worse if possible, he feels drained, his head throbs without mercy, his stomach turns and cramps with every movement he attempts, everything hurts, the pain in his hips raises sharp at intervals, even his chest feels sore.

 

It’s at this point that he attempts to build a nest around himself, he feels helpless and exposed in the middle of the night, his alpha isn’t back, and as much as he hates to admit it, he needs someone to take care of him, even in his fevered state he realizes that this is has turned into a dry heat.

 

He feels like the one thing keeping him sane right now is Lance’s jacket, he buries his face in it, rubs it over the sensitive skin covering his scent glands and groans in frustration as he struggles to bundle up sheets and clothes around him on the bed. He needs to be scented, he needs it as soon as possible, dry heats are painful and that’s the only thing that might help him a little… artificial hormones would help him too, but they’re not available in space.

 

So he can’t do much more than wait.

 

He’s okay, this isn’t the first dry heat he has had after all, as long as he remembers to drink sometimes he’ll be fine, he just needs to wait until it ends, it won’t take too long, four or five days at most…

 

The night passes and in the morning he’s way too out of it not to whine in fear when he smells someone outside his room, he’s trapped, weak and alone, all his instincts know is that he’s the easiest target imaginable. The person outside talks, and it takes him minutes to understand something through the haze of fever.

 

He knows that voice and, although still scary, that scent isn’t especially threatening, it’s light and fresh.

 

“- leaving food goo. Don’t forget to eat. I can’t smell anything, but Shiro says your scent’s off, Allura’s calling Lance okay? You hang in there”

 

Keith clutches reflexively at the jacket in his hands, and thrashes around, weak and frustrated, when he finds that it only smells like him by now.

 

Keith’s pretty sure that he’s losing time at this point, he opens his eyes and doesn’t know whether he was sleeping or passed out, and has no energy to stand up and check the ticker. He just hopes this day goes fast and this torture ends because absolutely everything aches and he feels so pathetic he has no words for it.

 

 

In what is the late afternoon of the castle Lance walks out of his lion in a bit of an hurry, all he can smell is worry, and it makes him nervous. Allura had called him, asking him to come back, because something was wrong with Keith, and he almost panicked before Shiro supplied more info: Keith was in heat.

 

Lance had calmed down at that because okay, heats are annoying but not life threatening, and then he had started worrying again, because first heat as a couple? That’s supposed to be some romantic moment, they were supposed to talk about boundaries and stuff like that for like a whole week before the actual heat started, and instead judging by their leader’s insistence the heat was there in all its glory already.

 

His worries only grow when he walks up to his teammates and Shiro tells him that something is probably wrong.

 

“Of course none tried getting inside his room, so we don’t know what’s going on”

 

Lance nods “I’ll go check on him then…”

 

He doesn’t even bother hiding how worried he is, sprinting into a run to get out of the hangar as quickly as possible.

 

As he jogs up to Keith’s room, the room they basically share, he can smell it alright. The sweet scent of heat is there, but it’s off, not sweet enough in a way. He speeds up and only takes a moment to catch his breath in front of the door.

 

He knocks, because he must have a nest in there and he can’t just barge in

 

“Keith, are you in there?”

 

It’s a stupid question, and he knows it, but he still has to say something. He waits until his only answer is a weak moan from inside.

 

“I’m coming in, don’t be scared okay?” he bends down to take the tray Pidge had left in the morning, food goo and water pouch still untouched, and with that he pushes the panel and steps inside.

 

The smell is the first thing he notices, it’s strong and intoxicating just as any other alpha has ever told him, but it doesn’t make him horny like he expected it to, it only makes him feel apprehensive, and he realizes that it must be a dry heat. He knows the smell of Keith’s slick, -they haven’t had sex yet, but it doesn’t mean he can’t get his boyfriend all riled up- but that smell isn’t there.

 

Keith moves around on the bed, raising his head weakly to look at him and the pitiful sound that escapes him makes Lance’s heart race.

 

He hurries to the bed, biting his lip at the attempted nest surrounding it, and takes Keith into his arms.

 

Keith struggles to keep his eyes open, he’s barely sure whether this is all a fever dream or not, the scent is familiar and strong and comforting, and as Lance starts to nuzzle gently over his scent glands, Keith feels himself trembling like a leaf, fingers clutching at Lance’s bodysuit as relief floods him.

 

“Shh, Keith, I’m here, I’m sorry it took me so long.. I’m right here..”

 

It takes some time before Keith realizes that he’s the one sobbing, and that Lance’s words are obviously meant to soothe him. He can only nod as his teeth clatter with how much he’s shaking, and he feels like a drowning man, struggling to keep his head out of the water as he flickers in and out of consciousness.

 

Lance holds him tightly, scared at the heath radiating from his naked body and at the shivers running through it, but he tires to keep calm, and remember his father’s stories, about the times his mom’s heaths had been especially rough.

 

He lets go of his omega briefly, to get rid of his armour and suit as quick as he could, and goes straight back to scenting him, nuzzling and nibbling at his sensitive skin, making sure he was coated in his scent, that none would dare touch him.

 

Keith’s eyes are still unfocused and glassy, but he’s stopped crying, which Lance is going to take as a good sign. The next step is making him drink, his lips are chapped and he’s boiling hot, Lance does what he can, he runs a wet cloth all over his body, coos softly at him when he whines, does his best to make his own scent warm and welcoming, and he’s glad it seems to work. Keith slides into an easy sleep, and Lance keeps taking care of him, scenting him more, placing a cold compress on his forehead, adjusting their nest until it’s walls are fluffy and comfortable and shield the whole bed from the outside world.

 

 

Keith opens his eyes again not long after. He feels sore and dizzy just as he did before, but something’s different, he can’t exactly place it at first, but then he smells Lance’s scent on and around him, and relaxes, it feels like a balm on his nerves, his stomach has stopped churning with fear and the pain in his head isn’t blinding anymore.

 

It takes an effort but he turns onto his side, content to bury his face into his alpha’s chest

 

“Hey, how’re feeling?”

 

“Like absolute shit…” he croaks out “give me some water”

 

Lance is quick to fetch a water pouch from some hidden niche in the nest, and as Keith sips on it he can’t help marvelling at how good of a nest builder he is, which is great because Keith really sucks at it and screw tradition, his alpha is gonna make his nest from now on thank you very much.

 

 

“You should be alright in a couple of days”

 

Lance’s fussing over him, touching his forehead, massaging an incredibly nice spot in his lower back that makes the ache in his hips almost disappear, rubbing his thighs and talking in a soft tone he’s never used before, which is just perfect for the Keith’s splitting headache.

 

Keith thinks that he should feel irked by all of this babying that’s going on, but he also feels like crap and Lance is actually helping, and the last thing he wants right now is for him to disappear again, so he sits back, and waits for this to pass. And no, he doesn’t purr when he gets scented, not at all.

 

“I know, heats don’t last forever” he retorts

 

“You scared me, you know? You looked completely out of it when I came back”

 

“Yeah well, dry heats are fucking nightmares”

 

“I didn’t even know you could actually whine like an omega, you scared the shit out of me” Lance chuckles a little but his scent is far from amused

 

Keith’s too exhausted even to feel ashamed after that remark

 

“I was fucking dying, I have zero control over it”

 

“I’m sorry I was away”

 

“Yeah, next time I’ll tell you sooner when my heat is coming”

 

 

Lance leaves their nest only a few times, to go get more food or water, or something soft, and Keith doesn’t want to admit how hard he’s struggling not to whine and chirp like the most stereotypical omega in the world every time that happens.

 

He’s just glad he was in so much pain when Lance came back that the array of strictly omega sounds that could have come out of him was only limited to distressed whining, which would give almost any alpha goosebumps.

 

He pretends really hard that he’s not purring when Lance does come back from those short expeditions, nor that he’s scenting him back right away, to make sure that they only smell of each other.

 

Lance teases him, but lets it slide easily as they go back to cuddling.

 

The following two days are still horrible, his fever spikes again a few times and he aches all over, and he stubbornly won’t admit that his chest is sore and his nipples hurt, so he just swats Lance away when he presses them too closely together, which ends up convincing Lance that his omega’s just moody which fair enough, isn’t really unheard of during heats.

 

All in all Keith’s okay with how things turned out, they were expected to bond and he supposes that they did just that, but he can’t help wondering if Lance wanted something different. He knows he’s a romantic, only a romantic would still try to court him while fighting a war after all, so he must have had high expectations for this first heat, expectations Keith completely screwed up.

 

 

“I guess I’m sorry we didn’t get to do all that stuff couples are supposed to do..”

 

He finally blurts out the last day of his heat, as he sits up on his bed to eat some food goo, glad that most of his pans are finally gone.

 

“Really? I thought you’d find it cheesy” Lance’s smile comes easily and Keith shrugs

 

“I do, but I bet you don’t”

 

“Touché, I think most of it is useful, it’s not like I can ask you what are your boundaries while you’re basically only thinking about sex, that’s just a recipe for disaster”

 

“…are you disappointed then?”

 

“What? No, we bonded, didn’t we?” he then smirks playfully “and there are gonna be more heats in the future, they won’t be all dry, and I’m only gonna get better at it with time”

 

Keith just pushes him out of the bed, the implication of what he said making his cheeks heat up

 

“Nope, I don’t remember any bonding time”

 

“What!?” Lance squeaks indignantly from the floor

 

“I don’t remember any of it, I was way too out of it”

 

“That’s not true, I scented you and we cuddled!”

 

“It was all just a fever dream Lance” he says turning his head away, and smirks when he feels the mattress dip as Lance climbs back into the nest

 

“You’re lucky you’re still recovering, cause I’d hand you your ass otherwise”

 

“Oh really?” Keith’s eyes are bright with the challenge “I’d like to see you try”

 

“Really” Lance smirks back at him and nuzzles the scent gland right behind his ear

 

“We’ll see if you ever manage to beat my score in the training deck”

 

Keith lets himself relax once more into their soft bickering, his tone carrying no bite at all as they take their time scenting each other once more, and even while Lance mentioning it makes him feel nervous,

he really is glad that they’ll have more heats to go through in the future, more fun ones possibly.

**Author's Note:**

> I do have another fic waiting to be finished, but I'm a sucker for omega!Keith so I just had to write it. I'm working on a second part too, it's gonna be smut, just really self indulgent smut


End file.
